'It's like 24, but funny,' says James Corden on new show The Wrong Mans

James Corden's new show The Wrong Mans is like crime thriller '24' but with a splash of comedy.

The comedian and writer is set to star in the new BBC Two show with Gavin and Stacey co-star Mat Baynton and has revealed he took inspiration from the hit crime thriller starring Kiefer Sutherland as world-saving federal agent Jack Bauer.

Responding to questions asking where he got his ideas for the show, he explained: "It was that time that everyone started watching those TV box sets like 24 with high production values. We thought, 'I wonder why no one's tried to do that in a half-hour BBC comedy?' We wanted to write a sitcom that still had those cliffhangers you get at the end of 'Breaking Bad' and '24' which make you go, 'I have to watch the next one right now!' "

While the show draws some similarities with 24, it is still a comedy, something Corden was determined to reflect in the title.

He added to Nuts magazine: "Our reason for calling it The Wrong Mans is to let you know it's a comedy show. If it was a drama, it'd be called The Wrong Man.

"Mat Baynton's character witnesses a car crash, finds a phone ringing at the side of the road, answers it and someone says, 'If you're not here by five o'clock, we'll kill her.' We thought, 'What if something that massive happened, but to two ordinary guys?' It would be funny because they'd be going, 'What are we going to do?', 'I don't know!'"